I
I love Autumn especially the change in
colour of the leaves on the trees. After the
beautiful greens of summertime we are
now left with ruddy reds, yellows, browns
and rustic oranges and even pinks. The
most wonderful display that I remember
seeing was in Wales around the Elan Valley
Dams, it was breathtaking. This beautiful
picture also reflected in the waters of
the Dams made it twice as wonderful to
behold. As I stood gazing in admiration
at the way God displays His creation
throughout the changes in the seasons. I
sensed the Holy Spirit speak to me in my
spirit. “You see this wonderful display of
colour, THESE ARE ALL DEAD AND
DYING LEAVES.” What a surprise that
was, because of course, I knew that but I
did not see the significance for me. It soon
became clear that God was saying to me
that we are far more attractive when we
have DIED TO OURSELVES.
People are amazed how we can ‘put up’
with the issues of life that would normally
crush them. When I was going through
a dreadful time at the end of a 37 year
marriage it was terrible, I felt crushed but
as I clung to Jesus my family would look
at me and say “how are you managing to
carry on?” and questions like that, they
really were bewildered. When we are
crushed by life’s disappointments, failures
and broken dreams it is then people see
the real you, what’s inside of you will
come out. When we are crushed it will
either be bitterness or something that
only Jesus can give us, a divine perfume.
When we walk through a green field with
lush grass and healthy looking green trees
we can very rarely see the individual
tree as they all seem to blend into one
colour and so appear the same. However,
when they die we begin to see individual
colours coming through. That is the same
with us when we die to self, people begin
to see the real Christian, the one in love
with Jesus who has forsaken everything
DYING
LEAVES
to be more like Him and to be obedient
to His word.
Jesus states in John 15:1-4 “I am the true
vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in Me that does not bear
fruit He takes away; and every branch that
bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear
more fruit. You are already clean because
of the word which I have spoken to you.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in
the vine, neither can you, unless you abide
in Me.”
“When you abide in ME and MY Word
abides IN YOU.” That is the key when
you are feeling crushed, that’s when
your true colours will show. Will you
look and behave like everyone else, or
because of Jesus will you behave and
look differently? A crushed person but a
beautiful, colourful tree.
John the baptist said I must decrease
and HE must increase, meaning Jesus.
As many trees are stripped bare by the
winter season and the leaves are trodden
underfoot the new leaves are already
being produced by the ‘sap’ within the
tree. We are then privileged to see them
come forth in the Spring. A tree a year
older with new leaves for another season.
The tree is getting stronger every year
because it is planted in good soil with
much water.
So as the tree goes through it’s yearly cycle
so we too can learn to shed the old leaves
(self) to stay abiding in the Vine (Jesus)
and no matter how much life throws at
us we can show a beautiful display... The
nature of Christ Jesus.
When Jesus died on the cross He had
been spat upon, humiliated, whipped and
stripped of His clothing before He even
got to Golgotha where He was crucified,
and to add insult to injury, He had to
carry His own cross.
Isaiah 53:2-6 states, “For he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him,
there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of men; a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from him;
he was despised, and we esteemed him
not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; The chastisement for our peace
was upon Him, And by His stripes we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, everyone, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. Who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God.”
There is no one who could have foreseen
the resurrection of Jesus even after He
had told His disciples that He would rise
again. Now He lives forevermore as King
of kings and Lord of lords in the beauty
of His Holiness, at the right hand of the
Father. So, like Jesus when we endure the
things that life crushes us with by obeying
God’s word in order to deal with it by
dying to self; then and only then are we
‘transformed’ into a thing of beauty so
that Jesus can live His life through us. p
By Barbara Payne
intercessor, worship leader,
retired minister and
Divorce Care counsellor
April - June 2018
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